Yahoo Sports EXCLUSIVE: Maison Michel Expands Into Handbags
HATS OFF: Going forward, Maison Michel is going to turn its designs on their heads — by turning them into handbags.
For creative director Priscilla Royer, adding bags to a hat specialist was a natural extension of the brand’s territory. “The bag is obvious, from the moment you put a hat down,” she said.
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“When we looked at ways to make new products with our DNA, the bag felt right because it’s a much more accessible product. It’s less daunting to buy a bag than a hat,” she said. “I’ve been trying to shoehorn the idea that hats aren’t out of fashion and this continues my goal from the start of putting it on equal footing with bags, jewelry or shoes.”
Each bag design was developed and crafted using the wood shapes that are used to make hats, which number in the hundreds. In addition to its own stock, the Chanel-owned specialist has been buying vintage ones from workshops closing down and training craftspeople to perpetuate the know-how with new designs.
“We looked at which ones could do the job and how we could make new products with things like our little ears,” she said. But don’t expect to just flip your head gear around to get the same result.
Although the bags call on the milliner’s specialty techniques like sewn straw, Royer didn’t want the designs to “just be a hat turned upside down, you had to have a real bag in the end.” Finishing them off are leather details or studded straps.
Named after Hollywood stars, the bags range from the “Barbara” bucket bag and “Brittany” basket to “Audrey,” a take on the brand’s best-selling ear-adorned cap.
Available from June 6 at the brand’s boutiques in Paris, London and online as well as selected retailers worldwide, including La Samaritaine, Lane Crawford and Korea’s Boon the Shop, the bags will be priced between 295 and 875 euros.
Going forward, the Maison Michel bag line will follow a similar evolution to the bridal collection, with new styles inserted as part of the label’s spring offering.
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